A Chance Encounter
by Flaming Moth
Summary: Miley can't bring herself to tell Lilly how she really feels.  Will Lilly somehow find out anyway?  Liley oneshot.


**Disclaimers:** _Hannah Montana_ and all characters contained herein that are related to the show do not belong to me in any way, shape or form. I am merely using them for the purpose of this story. This is my first _Hannah Montana_ fanfic so let me know what you think of it! I'm always up for criticism, whether it be good or bad (mostly good, wink wink). Read and enjoy!

**A C****HANCE ****E****NCOUNTER**

As the sun began to set, Miley stood out on the back deck of her house, leaning against the railing as she watched the sky slowly turn from a pretty sky blue to an array of warm colors ranging from pink, orange, yellow and an occasional purple. It was the middle of summer, the 4th of July weekend to be exact, and Miley was glad that she decided to take time off as Hannah Montana, the teen pop star sensation whom she frequently transformed into.

Even though the extra time she now had with the summer vacation would allow her to do more Hannah stuff, the only thing Miley wanted was to take a new approach and just relax, with no worries about anyone finding out her big secret. Plus, she was a junior this year. She felt that as a teenager growing up, she deserved to have at least one summer to be able to do normal teenage things, with normal teenage friends. At the thought of her friends, Miley smiled as one in particular came to her mind. _Lilly…_

Lilly Truscott was Miley's best friend and one of the few people who knew that she was Hannah Montana. As a matter of fact, Lilly took it upon herself to create her own alter ego by the name of Lola Luftnagle. Lola went with Hannah everywhere. No matter where you went, you wouldn't see Hannah without Lola somewhere nearby. And just like their counterparts, Lilly could always be found with Miley. Along with their other friend, Oliver Oken, the three were inseparable and considered themselves to be the Three Musketeers.

A light breeze jogged Miley out of her thoughts and she sighed. So far her summer had been uneventful and she was beginning to wonder if taking time off as Hannah was such a good idea after all. Deciding to take a walk on the nearby beach, she gently pushed off of the railing she was leaning on and headed out towards the sand. As she began to near, the sounds of the waves floated gently through the air and into her hearing range. Stopping just short of the water, she once again looked out into the sunset, the breeze a bit stronger but not enough to make a real notable difference as it softly blew the hair around her face.

Taking her gaze off of the sky, she turned to her left and slowly started walking along the shore, her eyes focused on the sandy ground in front of her. Her thoughts went back to Lilly. One of the reasons Miley also wanted to take the summer off was so she could spend more time with Lilly, perhaps the only good thing the summer had to offer her so far. Unbeknownst to her best friend, Miley had started developing feelings for Lilly about a year ago. The more she tried to push them away, the more she kept thinking about Lilly until she finally came to terms that she, Miley Stewart, had fallen in love with her best friend.

The only other person she told was Oliver and he completely understood. He tried to convince her many times that she should tell Lilly about her feelings, and many times she actually considered it. However, fear held her back as she thought of what might happen if Lilly wasn't as accepting as Oliver was. Could she handle the possibility of losing perhaps the best friend she's ever had? No, she couldn't. She would rather keep her secret and go on just being friends with Lilly instead of telling her and having it ruin their sacred friendship forever.

Miley stopped walking and looked out towards the ocean. She had lost track of time as she now noticed the sun had already completely set and stars were starting to come out and dot the sky. As the wind continued to blow, she shifted her gaze towards the moon, shining brightly in its place and adding a soft glow around it. Yes, no matter what happened, Lilly must never know about her secret. Tearing her eyes away from the moon and taking one last look out at the ocean, she turned around and started the walk back towards her house.

* * *

"Miley! If you don't hurry I'm going to leave without you!" Lilly stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking up as she yelled out at Miley.

In her room, Miley checked her image in the mirror one last time to make sure she looked okay. It was the 4th of July and she and Lilly were going to a bonfire party that was being held out at the beach. Oliver was going to be there also, but they had agreed that they would meet up at the party. Satisfied with how she looked, Miley turned and headed out of her room, turning off the lights and closing the door behind her. Bounding down the stairs, she saw Lilly looking up at her with an impatient look on her face. "Well, it's about time Miles! I was going to go up there and make sure you didn't fall in the toilet or something."

Miley just looked at her with amusement. "Sorry Lilly. I was just making sure I looked alright for tonight. Can't go to a party without looking at least halfway decent!"

Lilly nodded her head, knowing all too well what Miley was talking about. "Come on girlfriend. Let's get a move on. We aren't getting any younger and the boys aren't going to wait around all night for us!"

Miley tingled on the inside as Lilly grabbed her right hand and started to pull her towards the door. _Girlfriend. She just called me girlfriend. Doesn't matter if it was meant in a platonic way either. I still liked the sound of it._ She just smiled as Lilly finally tugged her outside. The moon was already out and although it was a little bit of a cooler night than the one before, Miley thought it felt wonderful against her skin. She stopped, closing her eyes and just letting the coolness of the wind overtake her senses for a moment, enjoying the feeling almost as much as that of Lilly's hand in hers. She only snapped out of her trance when she felt Lilly let go of her hand. Almost instantly she missed the sensation as she opened her eyes back up.

Turning her head towards Lilly, she saw that her best friend was looking back at her, her blue eyes bright and a smile making its way onto her face. Miley started to feel a blush coming on from Lilly's intent stare. She quickly looked away to prevent Lilly from seeing her blush. She quickly said, "It feels good out here. A nice night to have a party, huh?"

"Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more Miles. We should get going before Oliver thinks we stood him up."

Miley nodded and cautiously looked back at Lilly, only to see her already walking in the direction of the beach. Silently sighing with relief to be out of the situation, she jogged to keep up, finally doing so and falling in stride next to Lilly. They walked side by side in silence this way, each to her own thoughts. Miley looked at Lilly from the corner of her eye. _I wonder what she's thinking about. Hopefully me._ Miley was about to open her mouth and say something to break the silence between them, but before she could the sounds of the party reached her ears. Focusing her gaze towards the sounds, Miley could barely make out the bonfire, along with what looked to be like a lot of people. As she and Lilly got closer, they heard their names being called out.

"Miley! Lilly! Over here!" A figure broke apart from the crowd along the far left side and started running towards them. Recognizing it to be Oliver, the girls smiled and watched as he stopped just in front of them, breathing heavily as he bent over and rested his hands on his knees. Once he regained his normal rate of breathing, he stood back up and acknowledged them.

"I thought you guys forgot about me. Anyway, this party is amazing! They're going to start doing the whole fireworks show thing in about an hour. I heard that it's going to be the best one yet! Now, how about we say the Three Musketeers get ready, get set and go mingle! Smokin' Oken is on the job!"

Miley and Lilly looked at each other and grinned at Oliver's obvious enthusiasm. He led the way and before long, Miley found herself having a good time. A bunch of her classmates were there and she went around talking to nearly all of them. Every now and then, she would steal a glance at Lilly, who seemed to also be enjoying herself. Oliver had long gone his own way, talking to some girl who caught his eye. Miley had never seen her before but from the way it looked from where she was standing, Oliver wasn't screwing this one up. He gave a glance towards Miley and she smiled, giving him a thumbs-up. He smiled back and nodded his head once, turning back to the conversation. _I never thought I'd say this, but it looks like Oliver might actually bag himself a girlfriend. Maybe I should ask him for pointers…_

Laughing at the thought of asking Oliver for advice on dating, she reverted her mind back to Lilly. Looking around, she didn't see Lilly at all. Wondering where she could have gone, Miley began moving through the crowd of people, turning her head this way and that as she tried to catch a glimpse of her best friend. After making her way around the bonfire and people three times, Miley was about to give up when she spotted Lilly at the far outer end of the bonfire, near the water. She once again moved through the crowd of people, never once taking her eyes off of Lilly for fear of losing her to the masses. As she got closer, Miley started thinking about her love interest. _She's so beautiful and so smart and funny. Just look at her. What's not to love? I could get lost in those sparkling blue eyes forever. Oh man, why does life have to suck? I can look, but never touch. At least not in the way I want to._

Just as Miley was about to reach Lilly and ask her why she just left her alone, she noticed that Lilly was talking to someone. She stopped before they could see her. Moving to the left just slightly, she could see that it was one of Lilly's guy friends who she used to skateboard with. Getting curious about what they were talking about, Miley moved a little closer trying not to be seen. She wasn't quite close enough that they would notice her, but she wasn't in earshot distance of them either. Inching towards the pair, she could barely make out anything they were saying. However, that didn't stop her ears from hearing something that made her heart stop.

"Lilly, will you be my girlfriend?"

It was as if the whole world just froze in place and Miley was stuck in the same moment forever, doomed to live this out for the rest of eternity. The question she just heard kept repeating itself in her head, never seeming to let go, taunting her even. How could this have happened? Slowly snapping out of her daze, Miley unconsciously let out a soft gasp. Apparently it wasn't as soft as she thought. Lilly turned her head and caught Miley's eye. Looking deeply into Lilly's gaze, a thousand emotions crashed into Miley all at once. She had to get out of there before those emotions could completely take over. Miley stumbled backwards, desperate to get out of there as fast as she could. "I-I'm sorry. I have to go."

She turned around and began pushing her way past everyone, tears starting to form in her eyes. As she reached the exact opposite side from where she had been with Lilly and apparently her new boyfriend, she bumped into Oliver. Through her blurry vision, she could see a look of concern on his face. "Miley, what happened? Why are you crying?"

"Get out of my way, Oliver!"

She tried to push past him, but he grabbed her by the shoulders and gently pushed her back to where she had been standing, refusing to let her go. "Not until you tell me what happened."

"I don't want to talk about it, now let me go!"

She once again tried to leave, but his grip on her shoulders grew tighter and remained where they were, not letting her budge a single inch. "Miley, you know you can trust me. You're one of my best friends and I'll always be there for you. Now, please tell me: what happened?"

Miley just looked at Oliver as the dam she had been trying to hold together inside her broke. Bursting into tears, she reached out for him and pulled him into a hug, crying into his shoulder. "I don't know what to do anymore, Oliver! Do you have any idea how it feels to watch someone you love walk into the arms of another person?" She pulled back from the hug and looked at Oliver, tears streaming down her face. "Just now I went to go find Lilly and when I did, one of her guy friends asked her to be his girlfriend! It hurt so, so much! I can't handle this anymore! Why did I have to fall in love with my best friend?"

"What?"

Miley froze as she heard Lilly's voice behind her. Looking at Oliver, she could tell by the look he was giving her that Lilly was, indeed, standing right there. Slowly turning around, Miley came face to face with Lilly, who looked like she was about to pass out, shock written all over her face. Not trusting her voice to do any kind of talking, Miley backed away slowly, shaking her head. She then turned on her heels and ran.

"Miley! MILEY!"

Ignoring the calls from Lilly, Miley just kept on running as fast as she could, a new set of tears spilling from her eyes. She couldn't go home yet because she knew that Lilly would most likely look for her there. After awhile, she finally stopped next to a tree to catch her breath, leaning against it as she gazed at her surroundings. She was no longer on the beach, instead standing on the sidewalk in a random neighborhood. As she looked more closely, she finally recognized where she was. Pushing herself off of the tree, she began walking in the direction of the park that was nearby. Besides the beach, Miley also liked to do her thinking at the park. She always sat in one of the swings that were in a more secluded area of the park, just letting her thoughts drift as she swung herself back and forth.

Upon reaching the park, she headed straight for the usual swing set, sitting in one and starting a light swaying as she began her familiar routine of thinking. _She wasn't supposed to find out. Not ever. At least not like this. I don't think I can face her anytime soon. What am I going to do?_ Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her cell phone going off in her pocket. Purposely ignoring it, she just continued swinging back and forth, letting the sounds of her ringtone echo throughout the night. After the fifth time it rang, Miley finally took it out of her pocket and set it to silent. She was tired of hearing it, but she was also smart enough to not turn it off, just in case she needed it for an emergency.

As the minutes ticked by, Miley just sat there thinking. Thinking about what she had done to deserve this. How she didn't deserve someone like Lilly anyway. Hoping that Lilly would be happy with her new boyfriend. The thought of Lilly with someone else made Miley's eyes water, but she refused to let the tears fall. Getting off the swing she made her way over to one of the benches and laid out on it, looking up at the moon and the stars. Her thoughts of Lilly continued as she slowly began to lose focus of the world around her.

* * *

The first thing Miley noticed was the hardness of metal underneath her. _Why do I feel like I'm sleeping on a bench?_ She slowly opened her eyes, trying to get them to adjust to the waking world. The early morning sun shone into her eyes but as they came into focus, she found herself staring out at the park, particularly the swing set that she had previously been on the night before. _The swing set._ Her eyes got big and she shot straight up as she realized that she had accidentally fallen asleep and spent the night at the park. Looking at her watch, she swore loudly and pulled out her cell phone. _Man oh man, Daddy is going to KILL me!_ She opened her cell and found that she had over fifty missed calls and nearly the same amount in text messages, all ranging from her dad, Jackson, Lilly and Oliver.

She began dialing her dad's cell phone number. Just as she was about to press the CALL button, her phone flickered and then shut off, its battery now dead. "DAMN IT!" She closed the phone and put it back into her pocket as she got off the bench and took off in the direction of her house. After running for a good while, she turned around a corner and found the beach not far off. She slowed her running to a jog as she got closer, finally stopping on the sand as she collapsed and tried to get her breathing under control.

"Miley!"

Looking up at the distant sound of her name being called, she could see Lilly running towards her in the distance, coming from the direction of her house. Not quite ready to face Lilly yet, Miley wanted to run but she didn't, partly because she knew she had to face her sooner or later and partly because she was too exhausted from running to move right now. As she watched her getting closer, Lilly grabbed her phone from her pocket, dialed a number and began talking to someone on the other end. _If I know her as well as I do, she's talking to my dad and telling him that she found me and that I'm alright._ She watched as Lilly flipped the phone shut and replaced it in her pocket, not breaking her rhythm of running once.

Miley finally mustered up enough strength to stand, getting to her feet just as Lilly reached her. She expected Lilly to stop right in front of her, and instead was thoroughly surprised when Lilly crashed into her, throwing her arms around her neck and squeezing her into a tight hug. The impact nearly caught Miley off balance and she stumbled backwards, instinctively wrapping her arms around Lilly's waist and almost falling into the sand. After a minute of them just standing there, holding on to each other, Miley felt Lilly's body start to shake. Realizing that Lilly was sobbing her heart out, Miley continued standing there, hugging her tightly as she let Lilly finish.

Miley didn't know what to do, so she opened her mouth in an attempt to say something. "Lilly, I-" Lilly pulled back so fast and had such a burning anger in her eyes that it caught Miley by surprise.

"MILEY RAY STEWART! Don't you ever, EVER, do that to me again, do you understand?" Miley stared at her, almost afraid to speak as she numbly nodded her head.

Lilly's gaze grew exponentially softer as she started crying again. "Do you have any idea how worried we've all been? How it feels to stay up all night and wonder if the person you cared about was okay? Why didn't you answer your phone? I tried calling and texting you after you left the party. Oliver and I went to your house to see if you ran back there. When you didn't show up after awhile, we began getting worried. The time just kept going by, hour after hour, and still, you never showed up once. Never called. Where were you?"

Miley took a deep breath and swallowed. She had turned her eyes away from Lilly when she began her mini rant, afraid of what she would see reflected in her best friend's face. Forcing herself to look up from the spot on the ground she had been staring at, she cautiously looked into Lilly's eyes. Only seeing hurt and concern, Miley's heart broke as she knew that she was the reason that those emotions were there in the first place. Swallowing again, Miley began to speak.

"Lilly, I'm so sorry about all this. I never meant for this to happen. Honestly I didn't. After I left, I ran to the park to do some thinking. I didn't want to talk to anyone so I put my cell on silent but I left it on. I may have kinda, sorta fallen asleep on one of the benches there. I woke up not that long ago and was going to call Daddy, but my phone died, so I ran all the way over here and well, here I am."

Lilly just stared at her, her crying now subsided. Miley wasn't sure what to make of it so she just awkwardly stood there, allowing Lilly time to collect her thoughts. Lilly finally took a step towards Miley, gently stroking her left cheek with her right hand and before Miley could process what was happening, Lilly's lips were upon hers. Fireworks exploded in Miley's head as she closed her eyes and lavished in the sensation of finally kissing Lilly's soft lips. The kiss started off gentle, but then slowly escalated into something more deep and meaningful to both of them as Lilly begged entrance into Miley's mouth with her tongue. Miley was more than happy to grant her that wish. After thoroughly exploring each other's mouths, Miley felt Lilly slowly pulling away and as she opened her eyes, she was greeted with Lilly's dancing and sparkly blue ones.

Her throat beginning to clench, Miley managed to sputter out, "Wow. I guess I didn't miss the display of fireworks after all!"

Lilly laughed lightly. "I'm just glad you're safe, Miley. I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to you." As Miley looked into Lilly's eyes, she couldn't help but wonder about something. "Hey Lilly?"

"Yeah?"

Miley grew nervous as she feared the answer to her next question. "What about that guy you were talking to? The one who asked you out?" Lilly chuckled and then started laughing when she saw the confusion on Miley's face.

"What's so funny?"

Controlling her laughter, Lilly looked at Miley and smiled. "That's why I kept calling you at first. We needed to talk after what had happened." Getting a _Go on_ expression from Miley, Lilly continued. "I never said yes to him being my boyfriend. If you had stuck around, you would have heard me tell him that I liked someone else. Miley, I've been having feelings for you for quite some time already. I just wasn't sure how to tell you. When I overheard your conversation with Oliver last night, I must admit that I was shocked, but only because I never thought that you would feel the same way about me. You ran off before giving me a chance to say anything."

Miley sheepishly grinned. "Oops."

Lilly just laughed as she grabbed Miley's right hand, intertwining their fingers as they both started walking towards Miley's house in a happy silence. "Lilly, where do we go from here?"

"It's whatever you want, Miles. I'll be happy as long as I get to be a part of your life." Taking a lesson from the night before, Miley stopped walking, halting Lilly in her tracks. She looked back at Miley with a questioning look on her face. Miley cleared her throat and stepped closer to her, looking deeply into her eyes. "Lilly Truscott, will you be my girlfriend?"

A smile instantly spread along Lilly's face as she happily spoke. "Yes, I would love that!" She reached her free hand up and pulled Miley in for another kiss, albeit a shorter and less intense one. Miley pulled away and they both smiled at each other as they turned back around and resumed the walk to Miley's house.

**Author's Note:** I don't know about you, but the ending seems kind of rushed to me. Don't get me wrong. I liked where I started off and liked where it ended, but it still seemed a bit on the fast side. Does that make any sense? I guess it doesn't help that I stayed up all night writing this, but still! My imagination can only go so far in the middle of the night. Anyway, let me know what you think! This was kind of a test experiment for me to see if I could actually come up with something good and to see if others liked it as well. All thoughts and opinions welcome!

Oh and another note, this story is actually way different than I had intended it to be. I had a set plan and I knew where I wanted to go with it, but I guess my fingers didn't agree. They kind of did the writing for me. I'm thinking about trying the original idea again for another story. I don't think it's going to happen but we'll see. I know it's nearing Christmas and not the 4th of July, but I usually write what comes to my mind and this story was more than happy to comply.


End file.
